Baseball

Tampa completes sweep of Prestige Appliance Classic with 7-2 win

AIKEN, S.C. -- Top-ranked Tampa completed a clean sweep of the Prestige Appliance Classic with a 7-2 win against Shepherd. The Spartans improve to 6-0 on the season while the Rams move to a 0-3 record to start their campaign.

Rightfielder Zach Gawrych went 3-for-3, scoring twice for UT while catcher Nick Tindall had a pair of hits to his credit.

Starting pitcher David Heintz (2-0) earned the win, throwing five complete innings, allowing two runs off six hits. The bullpen featured four shutout innings between reigning Sunshine State Conference Pitcher of the Week Jake Mielock and the dominant Marcus Crescentini. Freshman Mielock tossed three innings allowing a single hit with two sent down on strikes. Out of the nine batters faced this season, Crescentini has struck out seven, including two in his inning of work.

Third baseman Jacob Tillotson started the attack with a sacrifice fly in the second inning. He would come around to score thanks to a RBI double from Connor Obrochta, his fifth of the weekend. A batter later, infielder Orlando Rivera would trade places with Obrochta and give UT a 4-0 lead in the early innings.

Shepherd scored its first run with a RBI groundout in the fourth, but Tampa would answer with two runs in the home half of the inning. Senior Tyler Ding scored on a wild pitch that also moved Tindall to third. Designated hitter Stephen Dezzi hit a sacrifice fly to score the seventh run for the UT squad, who would go on to win 7-2.

Shepherd sophomore Sam Crater (0-1) was credited with the loss after pitching four innings and allowing seven runs off eight hits.